GAME Plan Progress Update

In completing this week’s learning resources and reading this blog prompt, I can see that my personal GAME plans are going to be challenging to work through completely during the duration of this course. However, I will be able to make progress in setting my goals and taking action upon them. My first goal, aiming to meet NETS-T indicator 2.a., is to develop the authentic learning experience that I brainstormed during week one of this course. As a second component to this goal, I would like to use the lesson within my science class this fall. However, since school is not currently in session, I will postpone that portion of my GAME plan for now. At this point, I have not yet begun to take action on meeting this first goal. My focus was centered more upon my second goal over the past week.

In order to take action upon this first goal, I need to access the instructional materials that I plan to use during my instruction of this unit. This will require me to log into my school’s digital folder system through the remote desktop and to go into my classroom to retrieve the hard copy versions of some of my other resources. I need to do this to ensure that my lesson fits within the scope of the curriculum I will be covering prior to the lesson, and so that I can be certain the lesson is appropriately challenging for my fifth grade students. As Rose and Meyer (2002) assert, “Universal design for learning suggests that teachers can remove barriers to learning by providing flexibility in terms of options for materials, methods, and assessments” (as cited in Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009, p. 116-117). One way that this flexibility can be afforded is by presenting the information to my students at a variety of reading levels. Instead of setting my students free to research anywhere on the internet, I will create and have my students use a custom Google search engine. Therefore, I will be able to remove some of the reading barriers an open internet search would provide to my lower readers, and I can still challenge my gifted students and higher readers with articles and information at their levels. If any readers of this blog happen to know of some grade five appropriate website examples on climate, I will gladly take the suggestions!

               My second goal sets out to meet NETS-T standard 5.b., and in order to exhibit leadership within the area of technology infusion, I need to join my school’s professional development committee. For this goal, I have already begun to take action. Over the past week, I contacted the professional development committee chairperson and expressed my interest in joining the committee. I wrote a paragraph rationale explaining why I wanted to join the committee and how I thought I would be able to make a positive impact on the school climate by taking part in it. I then emailed this explanation to the chairperson and the teacher’s association president, who then appointed me to the committee. Finally, I made an alteration to a planned event that I had for Friday, August 2, 2013, so that I am now able to attend the summer planning meeting for the committee.

               While this goal will certainly help me to meet the NETS-T indicator, it does not require me to create or teach a specific lesson. Therefore, I have no need to gather resources to meet this goal; the resources will be provided to me in the form of in-services, trainings, and opportunities to pilot new forms of technology through the Board of Education. I am especially looking forward to the piloting opportunities, and I hope to have the opportunity to try out new devices and programs that can be used as assistive technology. As Dr. John Ross explained in this week’s learning resources, it is imperative that teachers know how to use the assistive technology they have available before expecting students to use it (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009). This is a new portion of my goal that came about as a result of learning more about assistive technology through reading and viewing this week’s video segments.

 

References:

Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

 

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009). Meeting Students Needs with Technology, Part 2. [Video webcast]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_3399044_1%26url%3D